Distant

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈdɪstÉ™nt/

Alternative forms

• distaunt obsolete
• dystant obsolete
• dystaunt obsolete

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin distans, present participle of distare ("to stand apart, be separate, distant, or different"), from di-, dis- ("apart") + stare ("to stand").

Full definition of distant

Adjective

1. Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
2. We heard a distant rumbling but didn't pay any more attention to it.   She was surprised to find that her fiancé was a distant relative of hers.   His distant look showed that he was not listening to me.
3. Emotionally unresponsive or unwilling to express genuine feelings.
   Ever since the trauma she has been totally distant to me.

Related terms

• distance
• equidistant